Heading to Samoens with the family in a couple of weeks and taking my Nomad with me.

Keen to get some rides in but not sure about heading out on my own (I have been known to crash regularly).

Anybody got any guides they have used or any advice?

Don’t crash

Spent a day in Samoens in July last year, and really enjoyed the blue/red trails we rode, although it was all a little confusing as some of the routes didn’t seem to be well signposted, and the trail map was a little hard to follow! It didn’t help that there was a load of building work going on at the top of the first lift which wasn’t shown on the map!

The thing I remember most was that the trails all felt quite natural, and while no single feature was massively hard it was just continuously difficult through the technical sections. They felt very different from the trails we rode in the PdS area.

Now just trying to think if we saw other people riding, and I think there might have been a couple, but certainly nothing like the number of folks out in the main PdS area.

As such I think I’d be a little nervous riding on my own as if you do crash badly then it might be a while before you see anyone else.

ridethealps.com are based near there if you’re after a guide. They do lots of multi day group tours but may be able to put you in the direction of someone local if they can’t help themselves.

Jeff

No real help other than to say good choice, its much nicer than Morzine.

Some lovely scenery around there.

The top lift in Samoens, the Chariande Express, isn’t running this year as they are building new ski pistes. There is a plan on here which shows where isn’t accessible this summer.

I’m heading out there myself in a few weeks and was planning on doing the ride from Les Grande Platières at the top of Flaine down to Sixt via the Refuge Des Sales. Has anyone every done that ride or have any knowledge of it?

Some friends did it a few years back, it took them longer than they thought it would to get to Sixt.

We stayed for a few days this year and found it a bit frustrating. It’s not like the PDS to get round. It’s hard to link up the different lifts and there aren’t any link buses between the different villages. The Morillion lift is halfway up the hill so you have a serious climb to get to it. We couldn’t find a better way to get to Les Carroz other than a 40mins drive round.
That said, the blue from Samoens was really good fun but it was very quiet. The top is a building site and you have to dodge the bulldozers and hope to find the start of the trails. In the UK you can’t go on a building site with out PPE but here you ride through the middle.
The Carroz bike park was much busier but the trails were bike park trails where as the Sameons trails were more natural feeling.

Thanks, I had seen that one of the lifts would be closed!

I found one guide company called mountain spirits who seem to be running half day “enduro” rides.

I am keen to ride more natural trails, I have done my time on the bike park runs in morzine etc 5 years ago.

French enduro series was there a couple of weeks ago and used only the main lift. Lots of good trails to be found.

This should give you an idea, the trails used are a mix of specially cut and walking paths shown on the IGN map (note the photo I took has cut off the top of the path used but its accessed via riding up the road/path next to it I think). Note one on opposite side of the hill SP5 is a ride up / bottom of the Les Gets Bourgeoise / Samoens ride described on other threads, two versions of that the image – I have ridden one which is a mix if the two (yellow to red with a small road climb to cross over midway joing at Chantemerle).

I am hoping to ride a day or two there in a couple of weeks

I believe the Carroz trails are setup so that you drive there and then ride them.

I am keen to ride more natural trails, I have done my time on the bike park runs in morzine etc 5 years ago.

The blue and red “bike park” trails in Samoens are likely the kind of thing you’re looking for. Relatively narrow with a nice mix of steep/rocky bits. I certainly didn’t find any motorways with huge braking bumps if that’s what you want to avoid.

The trails on the other side of the valley (like from La Bourgeoise) are good too, but even quieter, so not ideal if you’re really worried about crashing and no one finding you for days.

The top is a building site and you have to dodge the bulldozers and hope to find the start of the trails. In the UK you can’t go on a building site with out PPE but here you ride through the middle

When was this? Early last summer there was a diversion around the building site, and attempting to ride through resulted in being chased by angry workmen.

@jim they are building a big new swanky Club Med at the top of the main lift out of the valley

[video]https://youtu.be/DrpbLWFEkME[/video]

Yes indeed. There was a diversion around it last year, so was surprised by the suggestion that you had to ride through it.

Had to ride through it today. Massive bulldozer in the middle of the path. The diversion was quite wierdly signed too but easy to work out after the first run.

The trails are nice and natural feeling but pretty cut up after the recent rain and don’t seem to dry anything like as well as the morzine trails. Quite a few slippy patches even after a day of blazing sun, that and the roots mean you’ll want to go careful if you want to stay upright.

The shut lift is a pain too but what runs are open are fun

When I was up there last August the signage was awful and we walked right into the building site before realising where we were supposed to go. No work taking place at the time but the site was just open for anyone to wander in!!

Got it

OP this is from the 2014 Enduro and the sort of riding I want to find, I think 2017 videos are on Pink Bike ?

[video]https://youtu.be/12RAX1G1opY[/video]

not ridden there but the various snippets above about limited lift access, closed trails, closed lifts, building work, lack of signposting etc. don’t particularly tempt me away from PdS.

MTB the best trails don’t have sign posts.

PinkBike:Samoens Enduro Day 1 Photos

PinkBike:Samoens Enduro Day 2 Photos 8)

not ridden there but the various snippets above about limited lift access, closed trails, closed lifts, building work, lack of signposting etc. don’t particularly tempt me away from PdS.

Fair points. We went over for the day. Rode down from les gets then some runs from the bubble. Nice for a change but back in PdS tomorrow. That said there’s shut lifts and building work in PdS too at the moment.

jambalaya – Member
MTB the best trails don’t have sign posts.

PinkBike:Samoens Enduro Day 1 Photos

PinkBike:Samoens Enduro Day 2 Photos

absolutely, no argument there. It’s just that it’s 2017. I have a short attention span. I want everything and I want it NOW!

I CBA to plan shoot like that. I just want to go and ride.

@warrend yep I went up to Flaine and down to Sixt via the Refuge Des Sales. Super cool riding and the top of Flaine is very cool. One recommendation would be take some really tough tires as the limestone up there is super sharp and my wife and I both ripped holes in our Maxxis tyres on the limestone. Very big country up there and the tourist office or vttrack.com have some maps or routes there

@warrends there is a ride on vttrack.fr that starts just below Pointe du Griffon and crosses Come des Fogges to the refuge then follows the GR96 trail looking to Sixt – maybe thats the one you are thinking about ? How are you getting to the top ?

I enjoyed our few days in Samoens but the website and the publicity make it sound like the PDS where you can link the lifts/resorts up. The truth is you really can’t unless you are prepared to cycle up an alp to get home or drive round the valley. I found this a bit of a disappointment after visiting other areas where there seems to be a bit of a plan to get around. We’ve now visited a number of different Alps/Pyrenees resorts and I found Samoens the least interested in mountain bikers. It wouldn’t cost that much to stick a bike rack on the odd bus here and there.

In answer to the question above, we were there the week of the French enduro and the signed route at the top of the lift was through the middle of the building work.

I’d go back but only for a couple of days. I wouldn’t consider a week there.

Campsite was good though.

cheers all

it is a family holiday with some biking thrown in so any trails would be good. my last trip to this area was a number of years ago and I have been living and riding in New Zealand for the last few years where natural rooty trails rule.

looks like I could do some solo cheeky mornings/late afternoons on the trails off the main lift while the family are occupied and then maybe hit a big day if I can find a group to ride with

@jambalaya & John thanks for the info. I’m staying just outside Verchaix and was planning on getting a lift around to Flaine and then getting the gondola up from there. Just need to persuade my girlfriend to drive me there! Would have liked to link it into a big loop but the closed lifts don’t really allow me to do that without a lot of climbing.

I don’t suppose anyone has ever dropped into the Giffre Valley from the Tour du Plateau de Loex route from Les Gets. From the IGN maps it looks like there are a few trails that route south into the valley but no idea if they’d be ridable.

@timid I think a few days does sound about right for that hill, there is obviously other riding in the valley and Les Gets / Morzine too. Bike-Alp used to run weekly holidays there but I believe they got out and about a bit.

?

@warrend been goofing around on maps and google earth … the track going NNE to Col de Plate looks to me to be a blue ski piste in winter and a gravel track in summer (consistent with solid black line on the map), you can then take right turn and join the track I found on vttracks which is the dotted black track crossing the “des” of Combe des Foges, then onto the Chalet

I was in Samoens last week (6th year in a row). Plenty of riding to be done with only the bottom lift open. Follow the path around the building sight and you’ll find the blue, red and a number of blacks. Very few jumps, but plenty of extremely steep single track. The top half of Chick run is closed, but is still one of my favourite trails. About 100yards from getting off the lift, you will see a small hut on your right along a gravel track. Go passed this and over the new ski run. Chicken run is 100y down the run on your right. It’s sign posted just inside the woods. We also rode from Samoens to Les Carroz then onto Flaine and down to Sixt. Just before you get to Sixt, we peel left and join the Samoens Blue trail. 60k in all, but a great ride. You will see nobody from the top of Flaine until you get into the tree line and meet hikers. I will send the Strava Relive video to your email as I can’t put on here from my phone. Enjoy!

Chris, respect! That would have been a monster ride. What was the height gain?

Jambalaya, I have reread my post and it sounds a bit negative. I suppose I just thought it was a shame as I really liked the area, the views and the riding and it wouldn’t take much to make it great. For us it wasn’t a problem as we were in our camper and moving around anyway. I would have been very disappointed if I’d booked an apartment for two weeks.

Went to Samoens yesterday from Morzine – took the lifts over to the top of Les Gets and pedalled around the road up to the viewing area on the Joux Plane and did the descent down to Samoens town.

An awesome descent, not as technical as the riding in Samoens but lightning fast and highly recommended. It was actually very easy to follow your instinct on it as to where the track went.

Samoens runs were long and epic – A real root fest, fast, flowy and well built yet natural feeling enough. A few good kickers and hips but nothing massive.

We were in a group of 16 for a friends birthday and only saw 3 other riders all day.

We got 5 runs in before we were beat and went to swim in the river under the lift.

I think it took around 15mins up on the lift, 5 mins down the road at the end and about 15-20 mins on the hill for the descent. So 1 hour laps roughly.

Highly recommended if you like steep, fast and technical riding.

Might not exactly be the place to go on your own.

An awesome descent, not as technical as the riding in Samoens but lightning fast and highly recommended. It was actually very easy to follow your instinct on it as to where the track went.

I think I’d dispute that. At the start you can do that but I think you’d miss some of the best bits at the bottom. Its certainly not instinctive to ride up the road for a couple of bends and there are lots of forks once into the woods immediately above town, although there are a few signs.

Highly recommended if you like steep, fast and technical riding

A fair summary. Much steeper, rootier and rockier than Morzine. I’d say the trail grading is about l up. The trails are more like the Morzine off-piste stuff

@alex, many thanks. Which was down from Les Gets to Samoans did you go ?

Might not exactly be the place to go on your own.

😥

I was there for 4 weeks last summer and rode alone most days on either side of the valley.

I’m not dead 🙂

We did the most direct way down from Les Gets so get to the top of Naussettes (however it’s spelt) and then take the road around the Joux Plane for 10 minutes on the tarmac then climb up off road for about 15minutes to the cross / viewing area of mont blanc.

You then peel off down from there on the singletrack which is pretty much a straight line with the cliff on your left and the road on your right (all be it you only see it occasionally).

The corners Nickjb is on about are fairly easy to spot. About 2/3rd of the way down you get spat out on a big left hand (main road tarmac) corner with a chalet to your right and a chalet in front of you and you climb up there. However we just carried on down the road and then branched off following the yellow arrows down.

Not as good but certainly not bad – we just wanted to get into Samoens for riding quicker as we’d already done some sneaky trails in Morzine that morning first thing and were 2 riders down from some pretty big crashes (perks of a 16 strong squad!)

That being said Samoens claimed no real victims but we were all shattered by the end and I’d say the standard of riding was pretty high (junior WC racers, Crankworx trail builders ect).

The pizza spot to the right of the lift along the road is recommended as is the bakery next to it… and it sells beers fyi 😉

The dip in the river was lush!

Any real world experience of the blue runs in Samoens? I’m here with my kids who enjoyed the seven stanes but this talk of steep and rutted runs sounds great for me but less so for them…
Are they just a bit too steep and more like uk reds or should they be ok?!

The blue is steep/rocky in places and rooty. Its a UK trail centre hard red in the dry and a black in the wet. It is really good fun but it is totally different to a UK blue.

Thanks, really useful & much appreciated. Perhaps I should do a test run 🙂

The trails are generally quite steep but its easy enough to walk a section. There are plenty of gentler bits in between the steeper bits. Biggest issue at the moment is the top lift is closed so there is only only one blue. I’d be tempted to jump in the car to Les Gets. Loads more family friendly riding although it is a lot busier.

I had a week here last August and rode alone, this and the confusing signage(8th summer in the alps for me) made it seem weird at first. although when you stop overthinking it, I did find it quite nice riding through peoples gardens and hotel premises finding my way out to the road at the bottom.
I did proper scare myself by doing the black on riders right from the top lift after rain. It was used for the EWS and looked so good but when you realise that you are out on a ridge in the woods with lots of roots and no traction, a lot can go through your mind. I remember having a lot more respect for the pros after. Bruises on my inner thighs from the seat took a week to get over as well, so you could say it is steep in places.

Would I go back yes – but I would want to take my mates if I was going on that run again.